“Well?” Chase prodded, when I just stood there, staring back at them. “How did it go?”
I couldn’t hold back my grin. The words came out on a laugh as I jumped up and down in my black Manolo Blahnik pumps. “I got the job!”
Christian whooped and fist-pumped. Chase crushed me against him from one side and Jenn hugged me from the other. Kinsley squealed and jumped, and Luke smiled and clapped.
“That’s my girl!” Chase said, giving me a loud kiss on the cheek. “I knew this one would go well, I knew it!”
“They’d be stupid not to hire you,” Jenn added. “You’re an amazing writer and you’ll go from intern to reporter in no time!”
“It’s not a very high paying job, but it’s something,” I replied with a shrug.
“It’s your first job, you should be proud,” Christian said. “We sure are.”
“We have to do something to celebrate,” Luke declared. “Taco Tuesday?”
Just thinking about tacos made my stomach growl noisily. “Less talking, more taco-ing,” I demanded. “Make it snappy.”
Jenn laughed. “Okay, give us about half an hour. We have all the stuff to make them at our place. Chase, I even got some soy meat for you.”
“Nice,” Chase said. “Thanks, Jenn.”
“Well, that’s it,” Christian confirmed. “When Jenn starts buying things just for you, you’re officially one of us.”
“Hey, he’s one of us because I say so,” I corrected him. “Now someone make me a virgin margarita. Mama deserves one after that!”
We spent the rest of the night in Luke and Jenn’s kitchen, stuffing taco shells, drinking margaritas, and reading over the list of prospective parents for Blob. By the end of the night, we had it narrowed down to four families, each of which Chase and I would interview before choosing someone.
Exhausted, but still on a high from the afternoon’s events, I climbed the stairs to my room with a spring in my step. Chase, Luke, and Christian were finishing up one last game of darts next door, and I planned to shower and wait for Chase in bed. I’d discreetly asked Kinsley to give us the room tonight so we could be alone, and she’d happily offered to take Jenn’s old room for the night—the twin bed was still in there, since she and Luke were now sharing a bigger one at their place.
Humming absently, I collected my pajamas and wandered toward the bathroom. I didn’t even hear the sound of the faucet running until I’d already opened the door. Kinsley was bent over the sink, rinsing her mouth out. Her eyes were red and watery, and the entire bathroom reeked of vomit.
“Are you okay?” I asked, dropping my stuff onto the counter and rushing to her side. “Are you sick? I told Luke he used too much damn hot salsa on those tacos!”
Kinsley shook her head and backed away. “No, I’m fine. The tacos were a little spicy, but I’m okay now.”
Frowning, I studied Kinsley more closely than I had in weeks. Her cheekbones and jaw were becoming more prominent, and not in an attractive way. She’d gone past a flattering amount of weight loss, into something downright dangerous. Her eyes were wide as she stared back at me, and she was getting jittery. I frowned, glancing around the bathroom for signs that what I suspected could be true. Spotting the little white bottle on the floor, I swiftly crouched and grabbed it. Reading the label, I gasped and stared up at Kinsley from where I knelt on the floor.
“Kinsley, you’re taking diet pills?”
She snatched the bottle from me and hid it behind her back as if I hadn’t just seen it. “It’s nothing,” she said, refusing to meet my gaze. “I just needed to lose twenty pounds for cheerleading.”
Gripping the countertop, I pulled myself up to my feet, struggling to maintain my balance. Being pregnant was making me as ungainly and clumsy as Jenn. “I think you’ve lost more than enough. Look, I know competitive cheerleading in Texas is tough, and your new coach is a real bitch, but you need to be healthy about this. You’ve lost more than enough weight, Kinsley.”
“I don’t need you to tell me how to take care of my body!” she railed, her eyes wide and wild as if she were searching for an escape route. The only way out of the bathroom was through me and Blob.
“I know that,” I said gently, as if trying to pacify a rabid bull. This was a side of Kinsley I didn’t know how to handle. “It’s just that we’re worried about you. Your moods are all over the place, you’re losing weight like crazy, and now I catch you in here with diet pills. On top of that, I’m pretty sure you were just puking, which means you are either having a bad reaction to those diet pills or you’re purging. Which is it, Kinsley?”
“What it is, is none of your business, Chloe!” she snapped, pushing past me and leaving the bathroom.
I leaned back against the door and held my hands over my middle to protect my belly, brow wrinkled as I watched her leave, her dark hair a glossy curtain swishing behind her as she descended the stairs. Rubbing absently, I listened as the front door slammed and the sound of a car starting echoed from outside.
Closing my eyes, I leaned against the door and tried to think of a solution to this problem. I don’t deal well with other people’s difficulties, especially when I have my own crap to worry about. Still, Kinsley was one of my best friends and I was now terrified to my core for her. I had two choices: tell someone what I’d seen and risk losing her as a friend forever, or keep it to myself and eventually lose that friend anyway. I knew what the right thing to do was, but that didn’t make it any easier to decide to do it.
“We really believe in a nurturing environment. Children are naturally curious and we believe they can learn so much while roaming and playing, feeling free to express themselves in an atmosphere that encourages their natural precociousness.”
I stared blankly at the smiling couple sitting across from me and Chase, wondering what planet they’d just arrived from. Liz and Robert Smith were the fifth couple we’d interviewed, and probably the most annoying. They never stopped smiling or nodding their heads … they were like some kind of weird, Cheshire cat bobble heads. Creepy much?
Chase cleared his throat. “So, how do you feel about discipline?”
Liz’s mouth fell open in a round ‘o’ of surprise, as if she couldn’t believe Chase would suggest something as barbaric as discipline for a child. Robert patted her hand reassuringly.
“We do not believe in discipline in any form,” he said with a straight face. “Discipline restricts freedom of expression. Children should be free to make their own decisions and learn from them. We encourage freedom, not restriction.”
“Right,” Chase responded slowly, with a smile that I knew was forced; it had none of the charm I’d come to expect from one of his smiles. It was definitely all for show. “Well, I think that’s all the questions we had for now. Can you think of anything else, Chloe?”
“God, no,” I said. “I think we’ve heard enough.”
Angela, our caseworker, stood and gave the Smiths a warm smile. “Thank you so much for coming in today. We will be in touch.”
“No we won’t,” I muttered as the Smiths left, smiling and bobbing their heads all the way. “What a couple of freaks!”
Chase shook his head. “No discipline? I have no desire to give my kid to people who are going to turn her into Suzy Sociopath.”
Angela, a petite woman with cocoa skin and the coolest afro I’ve ever seen, took both our hands and gave them a little squeeze. “You guys will find the right family, don’t worry. We still have plenty to get through.”
I gave Angela a genuine smile and squeezed her hand back. She’d been amazing to us from the beginning and I could tell she really cared about helping us find the right parents for Blob. “Thank you, I know we will.”
So far, though, we hadn’t met a single family we liked. They all looked good on paper, but in person they’d fallen flat. So far we’d met the free love Smiths, the too-rigid James’, the self-righteously religious Jacksons, the workaholic Goldmans, and the Jones’—Cindy was nice, but
her husband, Greg, kept staring at my cleavage.
With a sigh, I fell back onto the loveseat in the meeting room just off Angela’s office. “Is it over now? I have class in two hours.”
Angela glanced down at the stack of files on the coffee table and lifted the one on top. “We have one more couple scheduled for today—Julie and Matthew Hammond. She’s a Kindergarten teacher, and he’s a paramedic. They don’t have any children and they’ve been trying to adopt for the past two years.”
“How much longer before they arrive?” Chase asked, one hand working at his tense neck muscles.
Angela studied her watch. “Any minute now, actually. They’re scheduled for three o’clock and it’s two-fifty now.”
“Great. Watch, they’ll turn out to be a couple of freaks who are into S&M and swinging on the side.”
“Let’s give them a chance,” Chase said wearily. “We might actually like this couple.”
“Well, I don’t think I could hate anyone more than that sleazy Greg guy, so … bring it on, I guess.”
Just then, the bell jingled in the front room, letting us know that someone had arrived.
“That must be them,” Angela said, bustling toward the door. “Last one guys, we can do this.”
“Hopefully without succumbing to the urge to bash my head against a brick wall,” I murmured, taking a sip from the bottle of water resting near my feet.
“We have five more months to figure this out,” Chase said, giving my thigh an affectionate squeeze. “Angela’s right, the perfect family is out there somewhere.”
Angela re-entered the room with a young couple on her heels. They couldn’t have been any older than thirty and were both fairly attractive. The husband was average height with an athletic build and a military-style crew cut. He had sharp blue eyes and a smattering of freckles across his nose. His wife was an adorable little pixie of a woman, with a willowy figure, and a sweet face framed by a short, blonde bob. Her wide, green eyes were the saddest I’d ever seen, but there was also a twinkle of hope there as she came into the room, eyeing Chase and me as if we were her last hope of having a child.
“Chloe, Chase, meet Julie and Matthew Hammond.”
“Hi,” Julie said in a soft voice. I stuck out my hand for a shake, but she bypassed it, crushing me in a hug that was surprisingly tight for such a tiny person. “I’m sorry,” she said with a laugh, “but I’m a Southern girl, and I don’t shake hands, I hug.”
I hugged her back, noticing that she even smelled motherly—like vanilla and spices and something else I couldn’t place. For someone whose mother constantly smelled like vodka, it was a pleasant change.
“Nice to meet you,” I said once we’d parted.
Before she even said another word, I knew. I didn’t have to interview this woman; something inside of me just clicked and I knew. Julie Hammond was going to be the mother of my child.
“I just think you’re being a bit hasty, that’s all I’m saying.”
I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms over my chest. Chase’s fingers flexed around the steering wheel as he drove us back to campus. I was on cloud nine after our short interview with the Hammonds, but Chase had to go trying to pull me down.
“They’re the ones, Chase, I can feel it.”
“We barely talked to them for half an hour. This isn’t as simple as whether or not you like some lady’s haircut! You’re talking about giving our kid to them.”
Swiveling toward him in my seat, I glared at the side of his head. “Don’t be a jackass, and don’t insult my intelligence! I know how important this is, but I’m telling you, they’re the ones.”
Chase clenched his jaw in agitation, breathing heavily through his nostrils. “Look, I’m glad you got good vibes from them. I did, too. I’m not saying they’re not the ones, I’m just proposing that we take a little more time to get to know them and think about it.”
“Fine, you go ahead and do that. Whatever it takes for you to get on board. I’m already convinced.”
In the back of my mind, I knew he was right and I probably sounded completely crazy. Still, I couldn’t discount my own gut instinct. I didn’t need any more convincing.
“I don’t want to fight about this,” Chase sighed, reaching across the seat to take my hand. “I just want to make the right decision.”
I gave his fingers a squeeze. “I know. Me too. Can we just do another, longer interview with them before we see anyone else? Please.”
Chase sighed again, but nodded. “Okay. I would be fine with that.”
“Great, I’ll call Angela tomorrow and set it up.”
He turned onto campus, navigating toward the Communications building, where all my classes for the evening were located.
“I’ll pick you up after class,” he said as he coasted to a stop.
Leaning toward him, I kissed his cheek. His stubble tickled my lips. “I love you,” I whispered before biting down on his earlobe and giving it a little tug.
Chase sucked in a sharp breath and shuddered. “Hmmm, girl, if you don’t stop that …”
I giggled. “To be continued.”
“Damn right. Get out of my car before I pounce on you. Oh, and I love you, too.”
Taking up my bag, I floated back up onto cloud nine and stayed there through both of my evening classes. Tomorrow was my orientation for my new job, Chase and I had finally found our footing as a couple, and the preliminary interview with the Hammonds had been magical. They were exactly the kind of parents I wanted for Blob. Matthew was a paramedic who also volunteered for The Red Cross when they needed trained professionals to offer first aid during and after disasters like tornadoes or hurricanes. He was smart without being condescending, and charming in a guy-next-door sort of way.
Julie was like one of those mothers you see on T.V. The only woman in real life I know that can compare to her is Jenn’s mom. We’re talking a jam-making, cake-baking, PTA attending, minivan-driving, recital and ball game mom. She was everything I’d always wanted in a mother, and everything I’d never had.
By the end of the night, I’d convinced myself even more that the Hammonds were it. I could barely remember anything from my classes, but I had decided to do whatever it took to convince Chase to choose them.
While waiting for Chase to pick me up, I glanced down into my purse and cringed. I’d found Kinsley’s diet pills and stolen them, hoping to stage a passive-aggressive sort of intervention. I knew something had to be done, but I wasn’t sure what, or how to go about it. I was winging it here. She was going to be pissed at me, but I was determined to help her in any way I could, even if that meant making her mad at me for a while.
Sure enough, when I got up to our room, Kinsley was waiting for me. Pacing like a caged gorilla at the zoo—seriously, the girl was huffing and snorting—she whirled on me when she realized that I’d arrived home.
“Where are they?” she demanded, pausing in her tracks and turning on me with her fists clenched.
Slinging my purse onto the bed, I played it cool. “Where’s what?”
“You know what I’m talking about, Chloe, don’t play stupid. My diet pills, what did you do with them?”
I shrugged and turned to face her, determined to stand my ground. “I’m not sure exactly. You know what they say about pregnancy brain … I can’t even remember what I had for breakfast this morning.”
Kinsley’s jaw clenched tightly. “Look, I know you’re worried, but I have this under control. Just another week, and I’ll hit my weight goal. Then I can stop.”
“If you eat a high protein, low grain diet, you’ll get the same results. The healthy way. Besides, you’ve lost more than enough weight, Kins, it’s time to stop.”
“I’ll decide when it’s time to stop!” she snapped. “Give them back.”
I shook my head. “This is dangerous, Kinsley. You’re going to hurt yourself, and I’m not going to let that happen.”
“You know I can just go out and buy more,” she scoffed.
“I know. Guess I’ll just have to misplace those, too.”
Shaking her head, she brushed past me. “Fine. I’m moving out of here and taking Jenn’s old room.”
Panicking, I reached out and grabbed her hand. “You don’t have to do that.”
Snatching away, she glared at me over her shoulder. “Apparently I do, since you can’t respect my property. I’ll be out in the morning.”
Before I could reply, she was gone. My hands were shaking as I slowly lowered myself to the bed, my mind racing as I tried to figure out my next move. Even though the confrontation with Kinsley had shaken me, I was more determined now than before to do something.
“Thank you so much for inviting us to dinner.”
Julie Hammond smiled as she set a tray holding a pitcher of sweet iced tea and four glasses in the center of the table. Chase sat beside me, and Matthew across, on the cozy little patio behind their four bedroom, Ranch-style house. We were filling our plates with pasta—ravioli that Julie has made from scratch—and salad, dining outside where the early evening weather was perfect and comfortable.
“Well, when you called and said you wanted to give us a second interview, I was hoping for something a little less formal,” she said as she filled the glasses and passed them out. “Besides, I figured if you were interested enough to see us again, you might as well see our home.”
Accepting my glass, I smiled, taking in the neat lawn, complete with flower bed and dog pen where two cholate labs ran and played. Dog people. The Hammonds were dog people. They just kept on winning and winning.
“It’s a great place,” Chase said between sips of tea. “Reminds me a lot of the house I grew up in.”
“Thank you,” Julie answered with a sweet smile. She settled into her seat next to Matthew. “So, you guys know a lot about us, why don’t you tell us about you?”
We spent the next half hour eating and telling them about our backgrounds, our childhoods, plans for the future, and even the story of how we met. By the end, they were in tears laughing about our hilarious meeting on Dasia Island.
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